A Virginia police officer involved in a controversial traffic stop in December where officers drew their guns at a second lieutenant in th...
A Virginia police officer involved in a controversial traffic stop in December where officers drew their guns at a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, has been fired.
Windsor Police Officer Joe Gutierrez has been 'terminated from his employment' following an internal investigation that showed he failed to follow department policy.
Body cam footage shows Army Lt. Caron Nazario, who is black and Latino, and dressed in uniform during the December stop at a gas station December.
Nazario was pepper sprayed and beaten across his legs during the stop.
Gutierrez's dismissal was revealed in a press release from the Town of Windsor on Sunday night .
The cop who was with Gutierrez on the December stop, Officer Daniel Crocker, appears to still be on the force. The city didn't comment.
Windsor police officer Joe Gutierrez, left, has been fired from the force as of Sunday night
Windsor police officers Joe Gutierrez (left) and Daniel Crocker (right) were both involved in the traffic stop. Gutierrez was fired from his position on Sunday night
Gutierrez firing came hours after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam tweeted that the traffic stop involving Army lieutenant Caron Nazario was 'disturbing and angered him'
'The pursuit and ultimate stop resulted in the use of pepper spray against Lt. Nazario by Officer Gutierrez. As a result of this use of force, Department policy requires an internal investigation to determine the appropriateness of such actions. The investigation of this event began immediately,' the statement began.
'At the conclusion of this investigation, it was determined that Windsor Police Department policy was not followed. This resulted in disciplinary action, and department-wide requirements for additional training were implemented beginning in January and continue up to the present. Since that time, Officer Gutierrez was also terminated from his employment,' the release details.
'The Town of Windsor has remained transparent about this event since the initial stop, and has openly provided documents and related video to attorneys for Lt. Nazario. The Town will continue to provide information related to this event in its commitment to openness. The Town has also requested an investigation of this event by the Virginia State Police, and joins with elected officials who have called for a full and complete review of the actions of these officers,' the statement reads.
Body cam footage shows Caron Nazario, who is black and Latino, was dressed in uniform during the December stop at the Windsor, Virginia, BP station last December
U.S. Army 2nd Lieutenant Caron Nazario reacts as he holds up his hands after being sprayed with a chemical agent by Windsor police officer Joe Gutierrez during a violent traffic stop
Gutierrez can be seen pepper spraying Nazario, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army
Gutierrez pepper-sprayed Nazario multiple times as officers yelled for him to get out of the car. Nazario's dog, which was inside a crate in the back of the SUV, started choking as a result of the pepper spray
U.S. Army second lieutenant Caron Nazario filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the two Windsor police officers involved in the stop, accusing them of drawing their guns, pointing them at him and using a slang term to suggest he was facing execution before pepper-spraying him and knocking him to the ground.
The two sides in the case dispute what happened, but Windsor Police Officer Daniel Crocker wrote in a report that he believed Nazario was 'eluding police' and he considered it a 'high-risk traffic stop.'
Nazario had claimed that wasn´t trying to elude the officer, but was trying to stop in a well-lit area.
His partner in the stop, Windsor Police Officer Joe Gutierrez was relieved of his posting on Sunday night.
Nazario, who is Latino and black, was in uniform and driving his new SUV with a temporary paper tag displayed on the back window on December 5, when he was told to pull over on U.S. Highway 460 in Windsor, Virginia, a town of about 2,600 residents and about 70 miles southeast of Richmond.
Nazario eventually got out of the vehicle and again asked for a supervisor. Gutierrez responded with 'knee-strikes' to his legs, knocking him to the ground
The two officers struck him multiple times, the lawsuit says and as seen in the footage
Medics also arrived to see to Nazario, who reported that his eyes were burning
Caron Nazario says his constitutional rights were violated by the traffic stop in the town of Windsor in December
When a police cruiser signaled for him to stop, a lawsuit against the two officers says Nazario put on his blinkers, slowed down and looked for a lighted place to stop.
Nazario stopped at a nearby gas station, less than two minutes after being signaled to pull over.
During the stop, which was captured on police body cameras and Nazario's cell phone, Nazario told police that he was afraid to get out of the vehicle. An officer responded, 'Yeah you should be,' the suit says.
An officer also stated that Nazario was "fixing to ride the lightning," in an apparent reference to execution by electrocution.
During the arrest, the suit says Nazario had his hands up, offered no resistance, but was pepper sprayed and violently knocked to the ground and detained. Ultimately the police chief responded to the scene and Nazario was released without charges, the suit says.
After the altercation, the suit says that officer Gutierrez said he understood why Nazario looked for a lighted place to pull over, and said: "I get it, the media spewing race relations between law enforcement and minorities. I get it."
The firing of Officer Gutierrez was detailed in a press release on Sunday night
Over the weekend, Virginia's governor called for an independent investigation into the traffic stop in which the two officers were captured on video pepper-spraying and pointing their guns at Nazaio before striking his knees.
Governor Ralph Northam called the December 2020 encounter 'disturbing' in a tweet on Sunday, adding that he directed Virginia State Police to review what happened.
'The incident in Windsor is disturbing and angered me - and I am directing the Virginia State Police to conduct an independent investigation,' Northam said.
'Our Commonwealth has done important work on police reform, but we must keep working to ensure Virginians are safe during interactions with police, the enforcement of laws is fair and equitable, and people are held accountable,' Northam said in his statement calling for a review of the actions.
The incident captured on video comes at a time of heightened awareness over police arrests of minorities and racial justice, in the wake of the ongoing televised trial of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody last May.
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